A Loudoun County juvenile court judge ruled Thursday that a 15-year-old student convicted of raping a female in a girl’s bathroom is to be removed from the sex offender registry.
Loudoun County Judge Pamela Brooks said she had erred in her initial ruling that placed the teen on the Virginia Adult Sex Offender list after his conviction of two counts of sodomy, WTOP News reported. The boy was found guilty in October of raping a female student while wearing a dress in a Stone Bridge High School bathroom on May 28, 2021.
“This court made an error in my initial ruling,” Brooks said at the hearing, the Daily Wire reported. “The court is not vain enough to think it’s perfect, but I want to get it right.”
During the hearing, Brooks said she had never placed a minor on a sex offender registry before, but a psychological evaluation of the boy deeply disturbed her, the Washington Post reported. The judge upheld the ruling to keep the teen on supervised probation at the juvenile treatment center until he turns 18.
A probation officer said that placing minors on the sex offender registry had “greater rates of recidivism” during the hearing, the Post reported. The judge cited the officer’s report in her decision. (RELATED: ‘Loudoun County Protects Rapists’: Students Stage Walkout In Protest Of Loudoun County’s Alleged Sexual Assault Cover-Up)
NEW: The 15-year-old boy who sexually assaulted at least two victims will not be labeled as a sex offender, a Loudoun County judge rules.
See @realDailyWire https://t.co/1wlIYbIJZZ
— Gabe Kaminsky (@gekaminsky) January 28, 2022
The boy’s attorneys, William Mann, Jonathon Moore and Caleb Kershner, requested for a reversal of the sentence at a January hearing, the outlet reported. The attorneys, who are members of the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors, argued that the sentencing could destroy the rest of his life and have set “him up for failure.”
“If the person is young and does all the right things to make amends, don’t destroy them for the rest of their lives,” Mann said, according to the outlet
“We are setting him up for failure,” Kershner said in his closing argument, according to the Daily Wire. “We’ve never concentrated on [the boy]—we’re not even giving this young man a chance.”
Commonwealth Attorney Buta Biberaj argued that the boy’s initial placement on the registry was for the wellbeing of the community, the outlet reported. She formerly said that he “can’t rest” on the idea that the boy’s immaturity led to the incident during a hearing where she had requested for the boy to remain on the registry until he turns 30.
The teen was also found guilty of abduction for forcing a girl into a classroom at Broad Run High School on Oct. 6, where he inappropriately touched her while awaiting the verdict on the first case, the Post reported.
Scott Smith, the victim’s father, expressed his family’s heartbreak at the ruling and the Commonwealth’s attorney who he said “let down our daughter.” He said the ruling could potentially put other girls at risk but are “committed” to ensuring that “justice prevails.”
“My wife and I are not just heartbroken about today’s ruling, we are quite frankly mad at how the justice system and the Loudoun Commonwealth’s attorney has let down both our daughter, as well as the other victims of his predatory actions,” Smith said in a statement. “The person who has committed these horrible crimes against these three young women will now, due to the errors of the county prosecutor, not have to bear the shame at being known as a lifetime registered sex offender, as he was originally sentenced.”
“We are now concerned, more than ever, that this change in his legal status may put other parents’ daughters at risk of harm in the future. Despite today’s ruling, we continue to be committed to making sure that justice prevails in our daughter’s case, both now and in the future.”
Statement from Scott Smith on today’s ruling: pic.twitter.com/nBM5gzyOF8
— Bill Stanley (@BillStanley) January 28, 2022
Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS) denied having any knowledge of the incident after allegations arose that they intentionally covered up sexual assault incidents occurring at two separate high schools. Parents called for the resignation of the district’s superintendent, Scott Ziegler, and other board members.
Jason Miyares, Virginia’s new attorney general, vowed that his office will investigate the district’s silence in regard to the incidents during its push to pass transgender bathroom policies.